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Samsung BD-P1500 review

Samsung’s budget Blu-ray spinner is available for under two tons. But is its performance classy or compromised?

from £250.00

14 October 2008/6:00BST

Shrewd shoppers with a smidgen of web knowhow will find Samsung’s BD-P1500 online for the paltry sum of £170. That’s pretty impressive, considering that just over a year ago the cheapest Blu-ray player was the £300 PS3.

So why even consider one of the vastly more expensive players out there? Well, this deck does have some compromises. It can decode Dolby TrueHD, but not DTS-HD Master Audio; it has stereo phono-outputs but no multi-channel analogue connections.

So, if the price tag caught your eye, just make sure your home-cinema receiver has an HDMI input that can accept decoded HD audio or that it can do the decoding itself.

Ye olde profile

Out of the box, the BD-P1500 is only Profile 1.1 enabled, though this isn’t a major problem as Samsung has a firmware update in the pipeline. You’ll be able to carry it out via disc or over the internet, using the Ethernet port on the back of the player.

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Like most Samsung products, the BD-P1500 has a simple, uncluttered design, and the fair-sized display is clear. Blu-ray discs load without too much of a wait, the remote control is standard Samsung fare, and the player’s on-screen menus are bold and easy to navigate. But it can be a tad noisy in operation.

Impressive performance

Feed it a Blu-ray, though, and you’ll be impressed by the 1080p, 24 fps performance. Images are detailed and stable, while fast motion scenes show little sign of judder.

It’s a decent DVD upscaler, too, but the class-leading player at this price (cough, Sony BDP-S350, cough) brings greater clarity and definition. With the Samsung, sound quality is clear and open, whether you’re listening to surround sound or a simple CD, though bass notes lack muscle.

If the credit crunch has squeezed your budget, this Samsung will certainly do a job, but decks like Sony’s BDP-S350 and Panasonic’s DMP-BD35 will do it better for only a few extra notes.

Stuff says...

Samsung BD-P1500 review

Decent, affordable Blu-ray spinner, but not up to class-leading standards